The Story of Echo-Lit

18th Dec 2017Jeanne Stevenson

Our story starts on a warm
spring day in 1973. I was in third grade and my elementary school was holding
its first book fair. I was so excited to shop by myself that I took all the money I had earned weeding flower beds - $3.00.

Using all my savings, I bought two things:

The Little Witches Black Magic
Cookbook (which is irrelevant, but the no bake cookie recipe is to die for)

And this poster which I took home and I hung in a place of honor, right next to
Donny Osmond over my bed.

.

Now, fast
forward to 2007.

The counselor at my daughter’s elementary school called me in
for a meeting. I stepped into her office and guess what poster she had on her
wall? Yep. HANG IN THERE! What's worse, the poster looked like it had been there since the 70's.“I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT,” I thought. It didn't take much to get my husband Chris on board. He loves kitties, but he agreed that school posters could use an upgrade. What's more, Chris has a huge competitive streak and loves a challenge.

The
following year (October 2008 to be exact) we started Echo-Lit in the basement of our
Fort Hill home.

We love our Fort Hill neighborhood here in Charleston, WV. Every time I mention it on this blog, I can't resist showing off our view.

Our mission
was to create captivating educational and inspirational posters that are
relevant, using contemporary, original photography and artwork. Posters that
connect with young people. It wasn't going to be easy. Snap Chat, video games, and glitzy
advertisements are stiff competition.

Using Chris’s
graphic design skills and my photography skills we created our website and 50 posters.

To help us, we tapped into the young, energetic talent pool her in West Virginia.

Every year, we add new designs. To date, we have more than 500. We've also added custom, size, finish and frame options.

Set
designers have noticed our efforts. Our posters have graced school walls in tv
shows like 11.22.63

The Fosters

and Pretty Little Liars.

We also get calls from film set designers. You can see our prints in Disney's Tomorrowland. I am quite sure the star of Tomorrowland, George Clooney, spent hours studying our designs.

Most recently we made the Midtown High School walls in Spiderman Homecoming. We're Marvel nerds, so this was super exciting for us. Of course we never know where and if they are going to show up, but we made the final cut!

When we saw Peter Parker moping in detention, in front of our work, it was clear that we'd accomplished our mission. I mean, can you get more contemporary or relevant then the Fosters and Spiderman?

We aren't stopping there. Our next chapter includes exciting challenges and projects. In 2018 we're planning more compelling designs, artistic workshops with local youth, and a variety of customizable prints. On top of that, we'll be branching into other subject areas, like science, history and mathematics.